Entries for June 2008

FRANKLIN —A Clarksville man won a $650,000 home in Westhaven on Sunday, helping Southern Land Co. and media partners WZTV-Channel 17 and WSIX-FM raise $1.6 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a new fundraising record.

This is the fourth year that St. Jude has operated a campaign in Middle Tennessee and the fourth year that a Westhaven home has been the grand prize. According to a press release from the Memphis hospital, the volunteers' and community sponsors' participation and amount of money raised are unprecedented on a national scale.

In their 30 years of marriage, Julie Tarrents has always had more of a knack for winning tickets than husband David.

But that changed Sunday when David's $100 ticket purchased online was drawn as the winner of the Nashville St. Jude Dream Home contest. 

The Clarksville couple won a new home valued at $650,000 in the Westhaven community of Franklin.

The Westhaven Realty sales team moved into their new offices in the Westhaven Town Center on June 18th. Located at 1001 Westhaven Blvd., Suite 100, just a few steps from the Vanderbilt Medical Group Offices and The Spectacle Shoppe, the new office is up and operational! Be sure to stop by on your next visit to Westhaven!

At Home Tennessee magazine has published the results of their annual reader’s poll in the June 2008 issue. LaurelBrooke was voted the “Best Subdivision” in the state of Tennessee. LaurelBrooke was noted for its dazzling homes, safe environment and true sense of camradrie among neighbors.

Tickets are still available for a chance at winning the St. Jude’s Dream House constructed in honor of Murfreesboro resident Ally Cameron.

The goal of the 2008 St. Jude Dream Home campaign is to raise $1.6 million for the internationally known research hospital dedicated to finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

There is still time to purchase a ticket for a chance to win the St. Jude Dream Home, which will be given away Sunday. The four-bedroom home is in Westhaven and is valued at approximately $650,000.

Fewer than 2,000 tickets remain for the Middle Tennessee Dream Home — one of 34 in the country — to raise $1.6 million for the children's hospital, making it the nation's largest Dream Home campaign to date.

A new retirement community aimed at the music industry is planned for Westhaven Town Center in Franklin to provide a community for musicians and entertainers in their senior years.

Blakeford Development Services Inc. will build and manage the community, which will have independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing beds.

Time is winding down and tickets are running out for your chance to win a more than half-million dollar home in Franklin.

It's the final full-weekend before the 2008 Saint Jude Dream Home Giveaway.

Tickets still remain - they are 100-dollars each.

Saturday was a scorcher. But hundreds of people still turned out to pound the pavement, dine on cookout fare and listen to live music for the second year of the Life is good Festival & 5K.

About 700 adults and 300 children registered to take part in the foot races through the Westhaven subdivision while many more were there just to take part in other activities that included a tongue-in-cheek World's Greatest Backyard Athlete competition, event co-chairwoman Melonee McKinney Hurt said.

The Life is Good Dinner kicked off the weekend's festival and 5k run at Green's Grocery in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee on June 6th, 2008. The event benefited the Boys and Girls Club of Williamson County and the Life is Good Kids Foundation.

"Life is good® Festivals bring communities together to feel good and do good. Fully 100% of festival funds raised are donated to the Life is good Kids Foundation. The Foundation donates every penny received from festivals to extraordinary charities helping kids who face unfair challenges, including the trauma of violence and poverty.”

One of Windstone’s last remaining townhomes in the first offering won the “Best Elevation” award for homes priced $960,000 and above during the spring HBAMT (Home Builders Association Middle Tennessee) Showcase of Homes Tour that took place in May. The “Somerset Glen” is 3,533 sq. ft. and its architectural style is considered to be French Eclectic. The Windstone Sales & Information Office is now located in this beautiful home located on 6114 Pleasant Water Lane.

In December, Franklin-based Southern Land Co. announced that Whole Foods would anchor McEwen, the 90-acre mixed-use development it's building at Mallory Lane and McEwen Lane. A fall 2009 opening is planned.

David Wilson, executive vice president of Southern Land Co., said his company began working on a contract with Whole Foods nearly two years ago.

The McEwen store is expected to be 45,000 square feet, 15,000 square feet larger than the Galleria Boulevard location.

"We have a signed lease with Whole Foods that we're moving forward with," Wilson said, adding that construction is on target. Of the Galleria location, he noted, "I think this is a great opportunity for residents to start shopping at Whole Foods early."

Running a 5K in Tennessee summer weather can become a tricky proposition.

Heat avoidance and a later start for the Life is good Festival's runs, which meander through the Westhaven subdivision neighborhood, gives participants a jump on other activities pre-race.

"This year, we're moving around the scheduling a bit because we found that the runners didn't want to stick around for the festival after the race, and also it got really hot during the day," said event co-chair Melonee McKinney Hurt.

Last year, the morning 5K attracted almost 1,000 runners who raised about $30,000. Those funds were split evenly between the Boys & Girls Club of Franklin and Williamson County and the Life is good Kids Foundation, which distributes money to nonprofits that support children in need. This year's goal is $50,000.

The Lofts at Watters Creek, a Southern Land Company multi-family community, are well underway amidst a flood of prospects seeking homes in this dynamic new mixed-use community in Collin County. Watters Creek is the multi-family component of Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm, a 1.15 million square-foot town center located north of Dallas.

In the spring of 2007, Fort Worth-based Trademark Properties (Trademark) tapped Southern Land Company to design and construct the for-lease homes. Trademark is developing the Watters Creek project in a joint partnership with Coventry Real Estate, Developers Diversified Realty and Southern Land Company.

Going green is a trend that's picking up momentum across the U.S. as homeowners struggle with high utility bills.

The green effort stretches all the way to this year's St. Jude dream home; the lucky winner gets eco-friendly house.

From an energy efficient roof to a special low flow commode, Fox 17's Laura Faber shows us some of what makes up nearly $50,000 worth of green amenities.